Onion Crunch is excited to celebrate Mads Mikkelsen as the Danish American Society’s Person of the Year. The Danish American Society is a non-profit organization that has pursued the goal of promoting friendship and understanding between the peoples of Denmark and the United States. The organization has honored individuals for their accomplishments and contributions to the Danish American community at the Person of the Year gala for more than fifty years. This year, they are honoring Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen who is known for James Bond Casino Royale, The Three Musketeers and Clash of the Titans and recently winning the Palm D’Or for Best Actor at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. On September 29th the Danish American Society will celebrate Mikkelsen in New York City.

Mads Mikkelsen is no newcomer to the business of Hollywood, but his under-the-radar quality might have led you to believe otherwise. In truth, he’s starred as a Bond villain (Casino Royale), a mythical Greek (Clash of the Titans), a Russian musical genius (Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky), and has achieved bona fide stardom in his native Denmark, so it’s surprising that Mikkelsen is not yet a household name in the U.S. Two significant projects on the horizon may change that. First up is The Hunt, the film that garnered Mikkelsen a Best Actor award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for his role as a kindergarten teacher falsely accused of child abuse. More commercial, but no less dramatic, will be Hannibal, the much-anticipated NBC prime-time series based on Thomas Harris’s cannibal psychiatrist. Mikkelsen will take on the title character of Dr. Hannibal Lecter with Hugh Dancy opposite as Special Agent Will Graham (played by Edward Norton in 2002’s Red Dragon). Say hello to your next leading man.

“Everything I’ve done is a stepping stone to what I do today,” he told LAT’s John Horn at a Telluride Q & A right before moving with his family to Toronto for a year’s shooting on the new TV series “Hannibal.” “We get away with a lot,” he promised.